


On the Way Home

by GuardianLioness



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III, ending spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 22:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17775794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianLioness/pseuds/GuardianLioness
Summary: The Gummi Ship plays host to a tired conversation after the Keyblade Graveyard. A loss is discussed, a restoration celebrated, and a plan made.





	On the Way Home

He is numb, hazy, TV static numb, _Nobody_ numb, until the Gummiship is out in open space. The only sensation in his body is the windburn of his face, aggravated by the tears spilled in the Graveyard. 

It’s a good thing King Mickey’s engineers enabled power storage on the happiness-ship. They’re running on reserves. No one can crack a smile now.

He sits slumped against the rear console, heedless of safety constraints. There isn’t any room in the seats anyway. Even with Ventus, Aqua, and Terra shifting their keyblades into a form of transport, the ship is packed.

Riku’s up front, piloting, and Mickey and the mana-exhausted Donald are buckled in to the seats behind him. Sora’s cricket friend perches on the king’s shoulder. The rest of them are huddled on the floor. 

Goofy braces the empty Replica up against the left wall so that it doesn’t slide around the cabin. Xion and Roxas are by the rear console too, both staring off into the distance. Their faces, familiar but new, are drawn taut with an emotion he can’t yet recognize reliably.

Sora’s gone, and so is Kairi. 

He must have a heart again. He’s hurting.

Friends. 

They were his friends.

He sighs, and it’s a long, _desperate_ sigh. A sound of sadness that pulls from his heart, his throat, and out into the world. It’s wonderful, surreally wonderful, to feel something and _show_ it.

The pressure in his chest eases, then, like he’s opened the floodgates, Roxas and the King sigh in turn, followed by a soft hum from Riku, like he’s thinking but hasn’t given in to the sadness just yet. Good for him.

 _He_ hasn’t fought it. He’s let the sense of loss wash over him — for now. There will, if their lives are consistent, be a time that anyone, someone, will need to refuse to be sad. He’ll be much more up to the task if the sadness has already run its course.

“Axel,” Xion murmurs, looking up at him with an expression she probably doesn’t yet know as _wistful_. “But you’re not Axel, are you? You’re his Somebody.”

Is he? Is he Axel, or is he Lea? Neither name quite fits. Both are awkward, uncomfortable, incomplete.

He told Kairi to call him by the Nobody name, used it for himself in the fight against Xemnas, but is it really him? _Axel_ is hollow. _Lea_ is the lost child who died next to Isa in Ansem’s castle, gasping in fear and pain.

Whichever name he is, he laughs and raises an arm, inviting Xion to slide closer. She does so without any hesitation, prompting a split-second glare of jealousy from Roxas on the other side of the ship.

“Lea, Axel, Somebody, Nobody,” he says with a toss of his head, pulling her into a hug. “I’m whoever you want me to be, as long as we're friends.”

“Axel, then,” she says, leaning back against him.

He makes a sound of acknowledgment and then looks back to Roxas, who’s still sitting there, lower lip protruding in a spectacularly childish frown. Axel raises an eyebrow, lets his mouth twitch up in amusement, and makes space for Roxas on the opposite side. The boy curls up next to him, mirroring Xion save for the arms crossed over his chest in lingering protest.

They sit there in silence, good silence, for a few moments.

“Sora was right,” Xion says softly, “people make you stronger.”

Axel nods. “We’re ready for whatever comes next.”

“What _does_ come next?” Roxas asks.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Ice cream first. After that? We search.”

There’s a split second of movement as Riku glances over his shoulder at them. Emotions may be a difficult thing for Axel at the moment, but the look is undeniable. Nervous hope. Of any of the people here, he’s probably the one that understands Riku the most.

Xion’s fingers curl in, clutching at his sleeve. She hesitates for a moment. “Isa first, then Kairi and Sora.”

“Isa?” The air pulls from Axel’s lungs.

“Yeah.” Roxas fidgets, but his voice is devoid of any edge. “He means a lot to you, right?”

“He hurt you. Both of you.”

“But you care about him.” She dips her chin so that they can’t see her face.

“Plus, he’s smarter than you.” Roxas jabs Axel in the ribs. “We’re going to need all the help we can get to find them. Between him, Ienzo, and Naminé, I bet we can figure something out.”

The idea is too big to really wrap his head around. All of them — he might have all of them back. Just like he promised.

He can’t allow himself the same faint moment of hope as Riku, so he just answers with an offhanded “If you’re sure.”

“We are,” Xion says, some of Kairi’s confidence edging into the words. Roxas nods fiercely in agreement.

“You both think you can do whatever you want,” Axel huffs.

“We can,” they say together, like it was planned. 

There’s a weary laugh from the pilot’s seat. Riku doesn’t look back this time. “I’m so sorry, Axel.” 

“Don’t be. It just means I’m home.”

The implication is unspoken, but audible nonetheless. Soon, with their help, Sora and Kairi will be too.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick, messy thing to express some of my feelings and desperate desire to see the Sea Salt Trio do more Adventuring Stuff, only Together This Time. I know that the general consensus is that a work-school life is the ideal happy ending for them, but these kids just escaped from an evil 9-to-5 and have never had to do math! Let them be young (ish, in Axel/Lea's case) keyblade heroes who protect people from the pain they suffered.
> 
> Also, Riku and Axel/Lea should be friends. They've got a lot in common on the "I used to be an idiot and now my friends are idiots" front, combined with their guardian tendencies!


End file.
